Measuring the Efficacy of Pathology Career Recruitment Strategies in US Medical Students.

Context.—: Multiple articles and surveys in the literature suggest that medical students find a career in pathology undesirable and believe it is disproportionately focused primarily on the autopsy.

Objective.

Coming to grips with economic development: Variation in adult hand grip strength during health transition in Vanuatu.

Objectives: To determine whether (1) maximal handgrip strength (HGS) is associated with inter-island level of economic development in Vanuatu, (2) how associations between island of residence and HGS are mediated by age, sex, body size/composition, and individual sociodeomographic variation, and (3) whether HGS is predictive of hypertension.

Material And Methods: HGS was collected from 833 adult (aged 18 and older) men and women on five islands representing a continuum of economic development in Vanuatu. HGS was measured using a handheld dynamometer.

A comparative assessment of major international disasters: the need for exposure assessment, systematic emergency preparedness, and lifetime health care.

Background: The disasters at Seveso, Three Mile Island, Bhopal, Chernobyl, the World Trade Center (WTC) and Fukushima had historic health and economic sequelae for large populations of workers, responders and community members.

Methods: Comparative data from these events were collected to derive indications for future preparedness. Information from the primary sources and a literature review addressed: i) exposure assessment; ii) exposed populations; iii) health surveillance; iv) follow-up and research outputs; v) observed physical and mental health effects; vi) treatment and benefits; and vii) outreach activities.

Ownership of consumer electronics is associated with measures of adiposity during health transition in Vanuatu.

Objective: The Republic of Vanuatu, like many developing nations, is undergoing a rapid health transition. Our previous study identified several behavioral risk factors for the rising prevalence of obesity. Unexpectedly, daily time spent using television and radio was revealed as a protective factor for obesity in 2007.

Proposed Iraq/Afghanistan War-Lung Injury (IAW-LI) Clinical Practice Recommendations: National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine Burn Pits Workshop.

High rates of respiratory symptoms (14%) and new-onset asthma in previously healthy soldiers (6.6%) have been reported among military personnel post-deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. The term Iraq/Afghanistan War-Lung Injury (IAW-LI) is used to describe the constellation of respiratory diseases related to hazards of war, such as exposure to burning trash in burn pits, improvised explosive devices, and sandstorms.

A Mixed-Methods Study of the Recovery Concept, "A Meaningful Day," in Community Mental Health Services for Individuals with Serious Mental Illnesses.

The recovery concept encompasses overcoming or managing one's illness, being physically and emotionally healthy, and finding meaningful purpose through work, school, or volunteering, which connects one to others in mutually fulfilling ways. Using a mixed-methods approach, we studied the emphasis on "a meaningful day" in the new Opening Doors to Recovery (ODR) program in southeast Georgia. Among 100 participants, we measured the meaningful day construct using three quantitative items at baseline (hospital discharge) and at 4-, 8-, and 12-month follow-up, finding statistically significant linear trends over time for all three measures.

Lesson From the New York City Out-of-Hospital Uncontrolled Donation After Circulatory Determination of Death Program.

Study Objective: In 2006, the Institute of Medicine emphasized substantial potential to expand organ donation opportunities through uncontrolled donation after circulatory determination of death (uDCDD). We pilot an out-of-hospital uDCDD kidney program for New York City in partnership with communities that it was intended to benefit. We evaluate protocol process and outcomes while identifying barriers to success and means for improvement.

N-Acetylcysteine attenuates tumor necrosis factor alpha levels in autoimmune inner ear disease patients.

Autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED) is a poorly understood disease marked by bilateral, rapidly progressive hearing loss triggered by unknown stimuli, which is corticosteroid responsive in 60 % of patients. Although the mechanism of the disease is not precisely understood, a complex interaction of cytokines is believed to contribute toward the inflammatory disease process and hearing loss. Previously, we showed the role of TNF-α in steroid-sensitive and IL-1β in steroid-resistant immune-mediated hearing loss.

Time-delayed contrast-enhanced MRI improves detection of brain metastases and apparent treatment volumes.

Objective: Contrast-enhanced MRI is the preeminent diagnostic test for brain metastasis (BM). Detection of BMs for stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) planning may improve with a time delay following administration of a high-relaxivity agent for 1.5-T and 3-T imaging systems.

Personality domains, duration of untreated psychosis, functioning, and symptom severity in first-episode psychosis.

Objectives: Early-course psychotic disorders have been extensively studied in terms of phenomenology, but little is known about the influence of personality traits on clinical features of first-episode psychosis. The aim of this study was to explore how the "big five" personality domains (neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) are associated with treatment delay (duration of untreated psychosis, DUP), functioning, and positive and negative symptom severity.

Methods: Data for these analyses were obtained from 104 participants enrolled from psychiatric inpatient units in Atlanta, Georgia, between August 2008 and March 2011.

Enhancing the Voice of Faculty in the Association of American Medical Colleges: The Evolution of Faculty in U.S. Medical Schools and the Transformation of the Council of Academic Societies Into the Council of Faculty and Academic Societies.

Since its inception in 1966, the Council of Academic Societies (CAS) represented academic faculty in the governance structure of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). As the role of faculty in the academic health center of the 21st century has evolved (e.g.

Mio acts in the Drosophila brain to control nutrient storage and feeding.

Animals recognize the availability of nutrients and regulate the intake and storage of these nutrients accordingly. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying nutrient sensing and subsequent changes in behavior and metabolism are not fully understood. Mlx interactor (Mio), the Drosophila homolog of carbohydrate response element binding protein (ChREBP), functions as a transcription factor in the fat body of the fly to control triglyceride storage as well as feeding, suggesting that Mio may act in a nutrient-sensing pathway to coordinate food consumption and metabolism.

Abnormal movements in first-episode, nonaffective psychosis: dyskinesias, stereotypies, and catatonic-like signs.

Motor abnormalities represent a neurobehavioral domain of signs intrinsic to schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, though they are commonly attributed to medication side effects and remain understudied. Individuals with first-episode psychosis represent an ideal group to study innate movement disorders due to minimal prior antipsychotic exposure. We measured dyskinesias, stereotypies, and catatonic-like signs and examined their associations with: (1) age at onset of psychotic symptoms and duration of untreated psychosis; (2) positive, negative, and disorganized symptoms; (3) neurocognition; and (4) neurological soft signs.

Latent factor modeling of four schizotypy dimensions with theory of mind and empathy.

Preliminary evidence suggests that theory of mind and empathy relate differentially to factors of schizotypy. The current study assessed 686 undergraduate students and used structural equation modeling to examine links between a four-factor model of schizotypy with performance on measures of theory of mind (Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test [MIE]) and empathy (Interpersonal Reactivity Index [IRI]). Schizotypy was assessed using three self-report measures which were simultaneously entered into the model.

Brain region-specific alterations in the gene expression of cytokines, immune cell markers and cholinergic system components during peripheral endotoxin-induced inflammation.

Inflammatory conditions characterized by excessive peripheral immune responses are associated with diverse alterations in brain function, and brain-derived neural pathways regulate peripheral inflammation. Important aspects of this bidirectional peripheral immune-brain communication, including the impact of peripheral inflammation on brain region-specific cytokine responses, and brain cholinergic signaling (which plays a role in controlling peripheral cytokine levels), remain unclear. To provide insight, we studied gene expression of cytokines, immune cell markers and brain cholinergic system components in the cortex, cerebellum, brainstem, hippocampus, hypothalamus, striatum and thalamus in mice after an intraperitoneal lipopolysaccharide injection.

Comparison of the metabolic profile of mixed calcium oxalate/uric acid stone formers to that of pure calcium oxalate and pure uric acid stone formers.

Objective: To compare the metabolic profile of patients who form mixed calcium oxalate (CaOx)/uric acid (UA) stones to those of pure CaOx and pure UA stone formers.

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of 232 patients, with both stone composition analysis and 24-hour urine collection, seen between March 2002 and April 2012. Analysis of 24-hour urine constituents across the 3 stone groups (pure UA, pure CaOx, and mixed CaOx/UA) was performed using univariate analysis of variance and multivariate linear regression models adjusting for clinical and demographic factors and 24-hour urine collection elements.

The influence of neighborhood characteristics on police officers' encounters with persons suspected to have a serious mental illness.

Objective: Police officers' decisions and behaviors are impacted by the neighborhood context in which police encounters occur. For example, officers may use greater force and be more likely to make arrests in disadvantaged neighborhoods. We examined whether neighborhood characteristics influence police encounters with individuals suspected to have a serious mental illness, addictive disorder, or developmental disability.

Measuring insight through patient self-report: an in-depth analysis of the factor structure of the Birchwood Insight Scale.

Little research has focused on item analysis and factor structure of the most commonly used measures of insight. We examined the factorial structure of the Birchwood Insight Scale (BIS), a brief, easy-to-administer, self-report measure. We studied the BIS in 327 first-episode psychosis patients, including a test sample (n=163) and a validation sample (n=164).

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding conception and fertility: a population-based survey among reproductive-age United States women.

Objective: To assess overall knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to conception and fertility among reproductive-age women in the United States.

Design: Online survey of a cross-sectional sample of 1,000 women.

Setting: United States, March 2013.

Testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections in adolescents--what's new?

Background: Significant changes are taking place in the diagnosis and management of sexually transmitted infections (STI) in adolescents and young adults.

Findings: In this review article, we provide an update of STIs in adolescents and young adults including: (1) Adolescent risk; (2) Screening guidelines; (3) Clinical manifestations; (4) Diagnostic testing; (5) Treatment; and (6) Prevention; with an emphasis on "what's new" in the field.

Conclusions/significance: While the impacts of STI epidemiology and health care access are leading to new recommendations for screening and prevention, changes in technology and drug resistance are promoting new methods of STI testing and ongoing revisions of STI treatment recommendations.

Anxiety comorbidity in schizophrenia.

Diagnostic and treatment hierarchical reductionisms have led to an oversight of anxiety syndromes in schizophrenia. Nevertheless, recent data have indicated that anxiety can be a significant source of morbidity in this patient group. This paper reviews current knowledge concerning anxiety comorbidity in schizophrenia, its epidemiology, course, and treatment.